Matthew 27:51a

The temple in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus was not the same one Solomon had built.  That beautiful temple was destroyed when the Babylonians took the people in captivity almost 600 years before the birth of Christ. Later, the returning exiles rebuilt the temple in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The temple was a holy place. It was the place where God put his name. The people had a special respect and reverence for this special place.  

The design of the temple followed the pattern that God commanded for the tabernacle.  There were two rooms.  The first room was called the Holy Place where there was positioned a seven-branched golden candlestick, a table of showbread, and an altar of incense on which offerings were made regularly by priests.  
 
Separated from the Holy Place was an inner sanctuary called the "Most Holy Place" or "Holy of Holies."  A special curtain separated the two rooms. It was there to insure that no one except the high priest could enter into the little chamber, and he could go in only once a year. He entered the Most Holy Place, in the presence of God himself, to sprinkle blood from a sacrificed lamb for the forgiveness of all the people’s sin.

At the moment of Jesus’ death, that curtain was torn.  By his sacrifice and death, the sins of all people are covered and paid for.  He is our High Priest who took away the guilt of our sin by shedding his own blood – the holy, precious blood of the Lamb of God.  Now "we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain" (Hebrews 10:19-20).  Through Jesus we may draw near to God, not fearing his punishment for our sins.  Jesus opened the way for us and now we are free to live in the presence of God.  For the blood of Jesus has cleansed us of sin!